It always existed. Just now it is more acceptable to be more overt.
Women do not just want money. They want a sexy guy and money. Some will take just a sexy guy, and others want the best of both worlds from two guys. But if you are not sexy, then they won't have sex with you unless you have money. Obviously if you are good looking but slighly less than her dream guy, personality and other stuff can bump you up. And if you are rich and very mean, she might stay away too. But for many average and below average looking guys, money is their only chance at dating the woman.
And SAF is right: prostitutes are a rare bread. Women don't want to have sex for your money.
They want your money for free, and will accomplish that by making you think you have a chance, making you fall in love, and then leading you to worry about blowing that chance, so that you voluntarily give your money away. She does not even have to ask you for it, so you can't blame her later. And if you ask for sex later, she says, "I don't owe you sex.", or "I don't think this is working out any more.".
This is not an attack on women. Men do similar stuff to women. Attractive guys take advantage of women. People rip off people. I'm just telling you what average guys need to look out for in the rip off realm.
If you are a good looking guy, disregard the following paragraph:
They want you to fall in love with them and be so attracted to them that you are afraid to make a move on them, and will buy them stuff with no strings attached. They might be willing to have sex once just to get you on the hook, but are afraid you will take that as an indication you can have it all the time. So if it is obvious you like them, they won't do that. Your best chance at sex is to let your body language and other mannerisms indicate you are not on the hook. This is hard to do if you are the one approaching them. So you need them to know you somehow, or have an excuse to be in their view and earshot. When they see you have money, and see that you are not on their hook, they will then WORK to keep you on their hook. Do not let them think you are on their hook, but also do make them think they have a chance at getting you on their hook. Lure them by making them think they are close, but then act uninterested shortly after their attempt so they have to take it a step further to get you on the hook. The key is that when you kiss them, you make it look like you just felt like doing it then, but are undecided. You do not want to look like you really want them, but are looking for their approval, otherwise they will know they don't have to kiss you and instead can take you right to the jewelry store. Let them work for it and keep pulling you back for more samples. If you are decent looking, or very rich, and have a decent personality, you can get sex. Then, if you have money, you can give them just a taste afterwards, but then show drifting interest again so they know they have to work for it. Again, her goal is to make you fall in love so that she won't have to work for it anymore. If she gets the feeling you will never fall in love, she will give up and leave. The prettiest women don't have sex for $400 per pop. They have sex once if needed to get you on the hook, but much prefer to find guys who fall harder faster and eat out of their hand. If a woman says, "you are so much better than the other guys. They just want to get in my pants, but you respect me and treat me like a gentlemen.", that is not a compliment. It means she is ordering you to get on the hook, or thinks you are on it.
Oh, and you have to make this all look innocent, and let her read the body language. If you say any of this overtly you will turn her off. And she can't know what you are up to or she will drop you like a rock. Her goal is to rip you off, not be ripped off. This is not all women though. Some will trade. But a lot will rip you off if they can.
Some guys try to fake that they have money, without buying too much expensive clothes. This is difficult, but possible to pull off. The key in that case is to make her think there is a small chance that you are VERY ---special. Like more than she usually gets, and that she has a chance to score big. When people think they have a chance to win the lottery, they drop their guard, and can be dumb stuff under percieved time pressure. Very advanced stuff for people who prefer this over going to the gym.